2. RESEARCH PROCESS
2.3 Research ethics
I agree with Sandra Harding’s (1993) view that in carrying out research one cannot avoid one’s own values and attitudes. In feminist standpoint theory, research objec-tivity is treated in terms of ‘situated knowledges’, meaning that knowledge is partial, situated, power pervaded and relational (Hesse-Biber, 2012, p. 9). My research is based on situated knowledge and my interest is in the experiences of older people. Particular ethical principles apply in research with vulnerable social groups, such as frail, lonely, older people, and such research is subject to distinct ethical and methodological re-quirements (Russell, 1999), of which I am aware.
In research, the risks depend on the different social and cultural environments in which the research is carried out (REC, 2009, pp. 33–35). I have respected the rights of my interviewees to confidentiality, anonymity and privacy. In conducting my research, I asked permission from the relevant institutions and individuals in order to adhere to all ethical rules and procedures. First, the consent processes and issues of anonymity and confidentiality were fully explained to participants. I first explained the aim of
the interviews and each respondent was given the opportunity to ask questions before answering any. The atmosphere during the interviews was very welcoming. My being a foreigner did not introduce any complications; rather, I received special care and atten-tion. At both locations (care homes and respondents’ homes) respondents talked freely with me, which is very important (Alshenqeeti, 2014, p. 41).
It is essential to mention that the discussions during the interviews were more open with the respondents who were living in their own homes. Respondents living in the care home pointed out that they did not know about their rights, such as how much they could speak regarding their needs and expectations, problems and other issues. It may be the case that if older people are afraid to open up about the quality of the services they are receiving, their situation might sooner be worsening than improving. I have used the real name of the villages and names of the care homes. However, in the field of research
“there is no such thing as zero risk” (REC, 2009, p. 30). I did not use respondents’ real names. I am aware that it might be possible to identify the respondents from the name of the villages and name of the care homes. Respondents were aware that in this type of research there are no risks of their being harmed. The respondents’ felt that the research questions did not concern their personal, intimate or family carers and this might be the reason why they gave permission to use the real names of the villages.
I have adhered to age ethics, which sets forth ethical considerations when doing research on older people as a vulnerable group (Nikander and Zehner, 2006). In col-lecting the data, special attention was paid to the challenges that old age may bring during the research process. Older persons living in care homes are often the oldest and may have memory problems. Permission for the interviews was requested from the managers of the facilities. Moreover, I discussed the research with the caregivers, who determined which residents were capable of understanding what a research interview and being interviewed entail. I did not interview respondents who might have had memory problems. In my assessment of respondents’ ability to speak openly, I realized that staff at the homes for older people selected the persons whom I ultimately inter-viewed. This may have led to the respondents not being willing to speak very openly.
Such difficulties may arise when people are in care homes. It is also a fact that I do not have the medical expertise necessary to determine who have might have memory problems or dementia.
In this study, the youngest respondent was 61 and the oldest 92. Though the age difference is over 30 years. It does not mean the oldest one was the most vulnerable;
while a great deal of ethical sensitivity is needed, an entire category of people should not be assumed beforehand to be vulnerable (Calasanti, 2004, pp. 1–7). A person’s age as such does not reveal anything about the state of his or her health. In doing research among older persons, I did not assume that they are incapable of understanding social issues (Helander, 2001). I did not patronize them but rather avoided stereotyping. I was aware that the respondents might treat me as a visitor or an official, towards whom they would want to be so polite as to not share their problems. I was also conscious of respondents’ possible sensory problems, such as poor hearing. However, I have valued the older people’s conversations, dialogues and consents.
In this study, I used 35 documents from the Arctic database and 20 documents from PubMed health stored in the archives (both electronic and non-electronic) of the library of the University of Lapland. I have stored all data in PDF format, which I can access with a variety of word-processing software. All the data are stored in se-cure folders on my personal computer for use in my future research. I have also used open-access reports and interview data. The recorded interviews are stored as .mp3 files, which can be accessed using media players. I will destroy these recorded files and verbatim transcriptions immediately after my thesis is published.